Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Joy of gears

Today I rode up behind a serious looking biker at Hamline and County Road B. He was waiting for the traffic light and I stopped behind him. He turned and looked at me but gave no greeting. Guys on bikes are like that.

He rode away when the light changed and I was prepared to let him go. He had fabulous calves, clearly a very serious rider and he had already been rudely dismissive. I wasn't about to try to race a person like that.

He was spinning a pretty high cadence on the downhill past the library and he gained a half a block or so. But as we hit the more steeply downhill part down to the light I shifted up to the big ring, as is my usual custom, to attack the overpass over Highway 36. He was still spinning pretty fast but when I started to turn the big gear he suddenly started to come back to me.

Over the highway we stopped again at the light in front of the golf course. I took a closer look at his bike. Oh, a single speed. Well that explained a lot. Single speeders are usually a bit haughty around geared bicycles. I believe their take on gears is along the lines of, "What do you need gears for? Aren't you strong enough to turn the one you have?" or something like that. This guy had a nice bike, a Surly, and I am guessing a usual single speed, something like a 48X17. Now if you can climb every hill you come to in that gear you are indeed strong. But on the rolling terrain of Roseville a 48X17 is at a distinct disadvantage if I can turn my 53X17 at the same cadence.

I let him go again when the light changed and downhill we went again to Hamline and B2. On the uphill after B2 I easily reeled him in again. And there I sat until he turned off about a half mile later.

It wasn't a race and if it was I suspect he still could have dusted me off. He had great calves, he looked awfully strong. But it was fun anyway, the joy of mechanical advantage.

I rode past Lake Owasso. They have reopened the lake to recreation but the sheriff still has about 6 cars on scene and the divers are still on the water. The lake is up to 25 feet deep and reports are that the water is very murky, visibility less than 2 feet. That guy is either going to have to float up on his own or they are literally going to have to bump into him.

I checked the Ligue 2 table on ESPN soccer.net. Nantes is first in the league, tied in points with the other teams who won their games on the opening weekend but holding first in the first tiebreaker, goal differential. Only 21 goals were scored by the 20 teams in this first round and no more than 2 by any other team. A 5-0 victory may end up standing them in good stead further down the road. The opponent this week is Châteauroux. According to Wikipedia Châteauroux usually attracts crowds of 5-6,000 in a 10,000 seat stadium. Welcome to the minor leagues Canaries.

Monday, July 30, 2007

French pancakes

I rode through the Fairgrounds again today. Hey, French girl, what do you think of this?Actually, I already asked her. She said some of the le Menu items are distinctly not very French but that the banana and chocolate seems pretty Frenchy. And they also have Nutella. The stand is located kitty corner from the DNR building, just around the corner from the big yellow slide.

Earlier I rode past Lake Owasso. There was a drowning there yesterday at about 2pm. We were there at around 11am and based on the newspaper story and what I saw at the lake today I am certain that the group of four young people we saw getting their boat ready for a day of water recreation are the group from which one person drowned. The body has not been recovered yet. If the picture taken yesterday had been taken this afternoon you would see a sheriff's boat cruising up and down that shoreline with two deputies peering into the shallow water. Out in the deeper water there are several buoys marking a search area and a couple of diver buoys indicating divers in the water. The divers' main boat would be just off the photo to the right. The area down the shoreline to the left was covered with deputies and cameras. A yellow tape stretched from tree to tree designates the entire shore as a restricted police area.

The young people were getting ready to ride on "Big Mable", an inflatable raft. I looked it up on the internet. There are several places on Big Mable where you can hitch the tow rope. At least one of them would result in Big Mable more or less up on its tail in a pretty agressive mode. Hitting a wake after making a sharp turn at speed in that mode would almost certainly overturn the raft. I think that is what happened. The raft overturned, the young man hit the water hard, the force of impact knocked him unconscious, he drowned before regaining his senses.

VeloNews today has an article about a German guy who claims that a careful analysis of documents made public by the Operacion Puerto investigation of blood doping in Spain reveals information detailing the doping program followed by Alberto Contador. Velonews also reports that 16th place finisher Iban Mayo has tested positive for EPO. He also was reported to have tested positive at the Giro, for testoserone, but was cleared of wrongdoing at that time by the UCI. Is there any solution?

I highly recommend the TdF posting at FatCyclist. He has a doping analysis written by a medical doctor which is quite interesting and which offers a reasonable solution.

And finally, a game which no site seemed to know in advance when it was to be played actually occurred on Monday. The game story on the FC Nantes website says the game was shifted by the league. I guess this makes sense for TV purposes. Even France has Monday Night Football.

Nantes 5, Reims 0. Nicolas Goussé, a striker in his first year with the club, scored three goals, the first at 9 minutes, then two quickly at 50 and 56 minutes early in the second half. Mamadou Bagayoko, a native of Mali and a former player for Nantes, returned to the Canaries after last year playing in Qatar. He scored the other two for Nantes. A capacity crowd of more than 27,000 fans looked on.

Allez Nantes.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Plethora

The scenery for today's final stage of the Tour de France was spectacular as usual but the bicycling was quite pedestrian. It is over and too late now for a complaint to have any significance so I will not complain. It is over now.

We had a visiting rider today. I requested a photo at Lake Owasso with the explanation that we had a plethora of Bianchis and Babes such that a photograph was quite necessary. One of the Babes protested that plethora was overstating the quantity.Well, we clearly had a much larger contingent than usual but I demure and assert only that there was no dearth.

This week's corn progress report:Babes moved to the edge of the field and for scale.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Fit and fast

TOPWLH was busy with her job this morning. Wireless is visiting but she will readily admit that I am an earlier riser than she is. So I went out early for a ride assigning the VCR the duty of facilitating TdF viewership for the today's time trial. I rode to the Cathedral.You probably think that is the Capital, not the Cathedral, and you would be right. However that stone wall in the foreground is the side of the front steps of the Cathedral. So this would be the Capital as photographed from the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is a longish ride for me but it went really well today. I have ridden lots of miles the last two months and as a result I declare myself fit. It was a long ride but it was also one of the fastest of the year. I was fit and fast and therefore am ready for vacation, where as Cuppy says, there will be no riding without Gene.

French girl and I watched the time trial after my return. Well, that was exciting. It made for fine TV, to be sure, but it also served to reinforce my feelings about this year's race. They should not recognize an individual champion this year, the results have been so skewed by the efforts of those who have been dismissed from the race that there just is not any way to know if the time differences separating the top three riders are in any way indicative of the actual differences among those three as racers. There just isn't any way to know. The best thing to do, even at this late date, is to recognize tri-champions. Particularly Cadel and Levi deserve nothing less.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Carnival comes to town

The brutal heat wave seems to have finally abated. It has seemed a lot like July around here lately and I guess that figures. With the waning of July comes the season of community carnivals and fairs. I came across a carnival on my ride today.This set up is in Island Lake Park in Shoreview. It looks like it may be a good place to avoid tomorrow and Sunday when the carnival will presumably be in full swing.

The Tour was treading water today in anticipation of the ride of truth, the individual time trial set to run tomorrow. It is apparent that not every remaining participant thinks the race is finally clean. Here's a quote from cyclingnews:

"In a heartfelt and brutally honest statement, Belgian superstar Tom Boonen said yesterday that, of those remaining in this year's race, he picked Cadel Evans as one of the riders he still trusts. 'I have given up my belief in most of the rest," he confessed. "It is possible to ride the Tour without doping, and to ride and win too. Cadel Evans proves in my eyes that you could win it without doping.'

For his part, Evans was noncommittal, saying, 'Unfortunately there's no prize for the first clean rider.'"

I, for one, note that although these riders do not actually come right out and say so, it is pretty clear that neither one of them seems to think that Contador is clean.

Allez Cadel.

According to the FC Nantes website the regular season was supposed to kick off today against Stade de Reims. However, according to the Reims website the game is not until Tuesday. The Reims site also indicates that the game is on TV so perhaps it has been delayed for the benefit of TV. This strikes me as possible as this is a meeting of former giants. Reims was the outstanding team of French football in the 50s and into the early 60s and was champion of France six times, the last time in 1962, and two time winner of the Coupe de France. Nantes took over from Reims as the preeminent team of the later 60s and has been champion of France eight times beginning in 1965, most recently in 2001, and three time winner of the Coupe de France. So perhaps this a match up that might strike the fancy of the French TV sports watching public in the first week of Ligue 2, especially considering that Ligue 1 does not kick off until next week. The game is at Nantes.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Contador in yellow

I found a page at L'Equipe where rider reactions to the events of yesterday are posted. It is in French which is not my native tongue but I think I understand well enough the basic meaning.

This is Sébastien Hinault, a Frenchman riding for Crédit Agricole:

Je pense que Evans ferait un meilleur vainqueur du Tour que Contador. Evans, on le voit souffrir en montagne, on voit le rictus. C'est pas l'impression qu'on donné Rasmussen et Contador.

I believe that Hinault says that he thinks Evans would make a better winner of the Tour than Contador. You can see that Evans suffers in the mountains, you can see it in his face. You do not get the same impression from Rasmussen and Contador.

I join Hinault in rooting for Cadel.

Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie. Oi, Oi, Oi.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Rabobank sacks Rasmussen, Tour leader out of race

And so, as I wished, justice has been served at the Col d'Aubisque. Not at all in the way I imagined, but justice has been served.

Now in Saturday's time trial Evans and Leipheimer will contend for the championship of the clean version of le Tour.

As to Contador, I say about him what I said about young Schleck in the Giro. He is young. It is an endurance sport. Endurance sports do not usually reward the young, they reward the fully mature and strong. Contador is young.

Contador is in his first year with Team Discovery Channel. Last year he rode for Astana.

There is no way to rescue the race for this year. For this year the results are hopelessly corrupted. The contenders have not raced against each other, they have raced against phantoms who have now gone. There isn't any way to reconstruct what might have been. The race is corrupt, they should stop it.

But they won't stop it and so on Saturday the final time trial matches two riders who appear to be clean in a final showdown. Did you happen to see Evans after the finish at Aubisque? If he is on drugs he needs much better drugs. He looked to be in agony. Did you see Leipheimer? He looked to be completely and totally used up.

It is a corrupt race this year but these two appear to be the best of the clean and perhaps they can, in the end, provide a tiny bit of dignity for this most embarrassed sporting endeavor.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Le Tour goes dark

In horse racing a day on which the track does not hold races is referred to as the track "going dark". Today the Tour de France went dark as on a scheduled rest day there was no racing. Unfortunately that is not the only way in which the Tour went dark.

Tour leader Rasmussen is under increasing pressure but instead it was emotional leader Vinokourov who fell from grace. My rant about doping after the time trial turns out to be accurate after all. Vino produced the phenomenal effort with the aid of illegal blood doping. He was subject to post-stage drug testing and when the results became available today Vino was dismissed from the race. The Astana team was also given the opportunity to withdraw from the race and did so.

It puts a whole new light on the race results of the last three days of racing. It was doping that allowed Vino to win the time trial. The collapse of the next day came about, in my estimation, because Vino expected, based on his previous experience, that the effect of the doping would last more than one day. When it did not he suffered on the first day in the Pyrenees. What did Vino do about this? My guess is that he took another transfusion and thus fortified won Monday's stage. By so doing Vino displayed complete and utter contempt for his sport, his race contemporaries, and perhaps most significantly, for the people who have throughout his career stood along the road and cheered him on. Bad form, Vino, bad form.

The race is completely corrupt, they should stop it.

It was very hot again today, another 70 dew point. But evaporative cooling continues to work pretty well. It was a bit less effective today as I actually broke a sweat on my arms and shoulders. Perhaps because of the miracle fabric of the jersey my torso stayed dry.

I saw the tall bike guy again today, in fact, for the second day in a row. We exchange greeting waves but I have not yet had a reasonable opportunity to get a picture.

I did get a picture of this, the clubhouse at the Les Bolstad University Golf Course. The University of Minnesota is a member of the Big Ten Conference. The flags on the front of the clubhouse represent the eleven member schools of the conference.I also won a race today. We weren't racing, either myself or the young lady who I was riding faster than on the long uphill on Como past the Fairgrounds. I pulled up behind her without great difficulty and held on without trouble. I stayed back four or five bike lengths as I did not want to creep her out but I think I failed in that attempt. Finally at the top of the hill she took a glance, spotted me, perhaps for the second time, got into the drops and hammered off on the downhill. I let her go. She was faster and I wasn't racing. But she was young, fit, had a nice bike, a good rider, and I hung with her on the uphill. I assign myself climber points.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Dope blah blah blah

More of the same today, dope blah blah blah.

VeloNews is the leading road cycling periodical in North America. Here are a few of the things VeloNews is reporting:

"Rasmussen appears to be in prime position to claim what might turn out to be a suspicion-laden Tour victory . . .", and

"Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said Saturday that organizers could have refused to allow Michael Rasmussen to compete in this year's race if they had known that he had missed several random doping tests in the past two years.", and

Another headline says that David Millar has said that Rasmussen has ruined the Tour. Millar was quoted in L'Equipe as saying: "It is unacceptable that Rasmussen did not manage to give notice of his whereabouts. It is understandable he had problems communicating his address from Mexico, but it is up to him to make sure his federation receives notification.

"He started the race knowing what would happen but did nothing to rectify the situation and now we are all screwed, and the Tour is in the shit. He took no notice of warnings from the UCI (cycling's world governing body) though he deserved to be punished.

"He has either been unprofessional or has used the system."

And this one: Pressure building on Rasmussen . . . on and off the bike. Good stuff in there about the Dutch journalists shouting down an effort to broadcast a videotaped message. Rabobank is, of course, a Dutch team. An "increasingly antagonistic media" indeed. Somehow, in spite of all this, Phil, Paul and Bobke continue to mindlessly cheerlead as though there were no controversy.

In today's stage Rasmussen once again displayed no signs of the fatigue that is present in all of the pre-race favorites. One can only hope that somehow, someway, justice will be served at the Col d'Aubisque.

As for me, it was 84 with a dew point of 70 when I got home. In addition there was an early in the day Air Quality advisory, the usual avoid strenuous exercise advice. In addition, thunderstorms which appeared likely most of the day seemed on the verge of breaking out at last. I had a very nice ride. At 19 miles the sun broke through and I got this nice picture of golfing.The picture is significant not because of the golf, that person visible just behind the flag hit the ball which is about to go off the green and the photo there on the right. Bad shot. No the photo is significant because that hill that the golfers just came down is the local sliding hill. The time I remember the best was Wireless and Julie and Laura but I am pretty sure we were also there once with Sarah Crosby.

I am not too sure about this other one but I really liked the orange flowers.I had stopped to get a picture of the sliding hill. These bushes line the fence right at that point of the golf course. I don't think it came out very well, but you get the idea I am sure: orange flowers.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Doper assumes commanding lead

Today's stage served to reinforce my belief that the Tour leader is not riding clean. But at least it made for very compelling TV.

We watched on tape. The early morning weather was very threatening so I went for an early morning ride. It was overcast, always threatening, and quite cool. I added a layer, an extra t-shirt, for the first time in a couple of months and rode.

Here is another place that is not very far from home but to which I almost never ride. This is Midway Stadium, home of the Saint Paul Saints of the American Association independent league. If you look carefully you can find a Snoopy, a dinosaur and two pigs.I almost never ride there because the stadium is located on very bicycle unfriendly streets. There is only a debris covered concrete gutter next to two heavily travelled traffic lanes. But on Sunday morning traffic was not an issue.

Yesterday TT was over. Anyone who has followed his photography trajectory knows that he likes these trick shots, having executed many of them over his career. I apologize for screwing this one up.The focus is not very good.

Edit: I have reviewed the final results table at cyclingnews and I admit that perhaps I was a bit harsh on Vino in yesterday's rant. I said that his finish smacked of doping. I ranted on that if he was not doping then he would have to fail today, completely unable to produce anything approaching yesterday's effort. The final results table shows that finishers number 87 through 164 of a total of 165 finishers came in the "autobus" or "grupetto", all riding together and finishing 34.52 behind the top two. This approximately half of all riders in the stage were not actually ever trying to do anything other than finish. They made no competitive effort on this day, they did not try to win or even place highly. Vino finished 81st and next to last in a group of 7 that included 2 other Astana riders probably sent to ride with him and get him to the finish. Also in the group was former yellow jersey wearer Linus Gerdemann. They finished 28.50 after the winners. Of those who competed and tried to win Vino was very nearly last. The finish that Vino had today is the finish that should be expected if yesterday he was an injured rider competing on adrenaline and not on drugs.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Doper retains Tour lead

It was a little cool for a ride early this morning so instead we watched the time trial live. I am very disappointed.

With Liggett and Sherwin rooting pretty openly for him, the current dope leader produced a completely unexpected and unexplainable ride and retained the lead in the Tour de France. According to Phil and Paul and also to Rasmussen's comments after the stage, we are supposed to believe that somehow being in yellow completely rendered a lifetime of time trial results no longer relevant, that merely by donning a shirt he became what he has never before, even a single time in his life, been, a competent time trial rider. Sorry, I don't buy it.

No less an authority than Bernard Hinault predicted that Rasmussen would lose about 4 seconds per kilometer to his closest rivals. Instead, over 55 kilometers, the Chicken actually finished ahead of the former 2nd and 3rd placed riders. He lost time to only 4 of the remaining 7 contenders. He lost 3 seconds to Leipheimer, 37 seconds to Contador, 76 seconds to Klöden, and 101 seconds to Evans. His lifetime results caused a multiple time former winner to predict that he would drop about 220 seconds to each of his rivals, instead he dropped a total 217 seconds to four rivals. The man is not riding clean.

The latest accusations, apparently only reported in full in VeloNews are that Rasmussen has used a blood substitute. The substitute is intended for use in dogs and/or cows. It is apparently a treatment for anemia in dogs. This, of course, mirrors the legitimate human use of EPO. The man is not riding clean.

With the wind dictating direction, the riding companion dictating distance and a third criterion which the Babe will have to describe largely limiting destination, we ended up at Minnehaha Falls. This photo is from the bridge over the creek just above the falls, looking down into the creek gorge.On the way home, believe it or not, we came across another unicyclist. This one was a kid and still not as competent at riding a single wheel as was yesterday's rider. The kid was coming to the curb cut at the end of the block as we neared the top of the hill on Como east of Snelling when he obeyed the instructions printed on my bicycle frame and looked at us instead of where he was riding. Down he went. He bounced right up, the young don't hurt themselves in a fall of such short distance.

The corn continues its amazing progress.The Babe is in there for scale but I just don't know if we can use this angle any more. She has disappeared into the stalks and leaves and if I let her keep going in there I am afraid that she will not be able to find her way out.

So we may have to start using this angle to measure progress.I hasten to point out that it was not I who peeled the husk back on this ear of corn. It's not my corn, I would not damage someone else's crop. But this one is right on the edge of the field and pretty clearly shows that ears have formed.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Unicycle guy

Boy, I tell you, today was nice.

I rode over to the river and for a change had a very pleasant experience over there. At the river every single male rider is racing and it usually gets a little old. But apparently I was there at the right time today as there were not many of them about and I was free to just ride along without having to be constantly alert for yet another one of those posers overtaking without a word. I know, I understand that they are only mirroring racing etiquette. But I just wonder where the hell they get the confidence that I am going to hold a straight line which allows them to come within a few inches of my handlebars. Because I tell you, I do not hold a straight line. I am not racing, I am taking care of my bike. Which means I ride around potholes, not through, around road debris, not over. I am not holding a straight line. End of rant. What I really mean to say is, boy, I tell you, today was nice.

I saw a guy riding a unicycle. I tried to ride fast to get far enough ahead of him so that I could get a picture but was unsuccessful. I got ahead but he motored past well before I could prepare for a photo. So I got back on and followed and eventually caught and passed him in the hills. Hills are a problem both going up and going down for a unicycle. Obviously you cannot coast downhill, you have to keep pedalling. I actually passed him on the downhill. Downhill looks harder. Anyway, by then it was time for me to turn off and approach the giant climb out of the river gorge so I had to abandon the photo opportunity. Take my word for it, there was a guy on a unicycle riding at the river today.

The boys on the Tour greatly disappointed me today. Rasmussen is suspended by his national federation and Paul, Phil, and Bob all lined up behind the rider. Eventually even Al, the reporter of the group, joined in the federation bashing. They claim cycling politics, that the Danish federation as part of the UCI is only trying to wrest control of the sport from the old guard, the grand tour organizers.

Lame.

Really lame.

The only thing suspicious here is that a rider claiming the advantages of being clean cannot organize his life as required by the rules of the federation which rewards him for being clean. It is just plain bullshit to say anything else. He knew the rules, he dodged the tests. Dirty.

Boy, I tell you, today was nice. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood and after missing out on the unicycle I hoped to find the Babe at home as this was my next preferred photo of the day, something from our backyard.It may look casual but it is actually very carefully posed.

FC Nantes has completed playing friendlies in anticipation of the Ligue 2 season opener on July 27. They drew and lost against Ligue 1 opponents, defeated a team from the Championnat National, also known as Division 3, and today dropped their only outing against a fellow Ligue 2 participant. Not a particularly auspicious pre-season but they were after all only friendlies. Allez Nantes, the season begins next week against Reims.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Agriculture Open House

I was riding by the farm campus. They had cars parked in a newly harvested grain field and signs up announcing "Agriculture Open House". I rode in a bit, close enough to see what was going on, but not so close that I would have been in conflict with the pedestrians. They were offering tours of the research plots, they had bleachers set up for presentations, they had tents set up for dinner, there was a new equipment display, all in all it reminded me of a county fair, right there in the shadow of the state fair.

I got this picture of the "Seed of Knowledge". It is a 22 foot tall permanent artwork. It tilts back and opens at the top. There is a tree planted in the center which presumably will eventually embellish the overall display. The "Seed" is located across from the flower gardens pictured a couple of days ago.

The Tour was pretty interesting for a flat day. Two days ago we learned that Vinokourov is not going to win the Tour. Today Vino responded and made his presence known by orchestrating the disintegration of the peloton in a cross wind, a move from which we learned that French national champion Christophe Moreau is not going to win the Tour. The field is reduced to about eight remaining with a realistic shot at winning. Discovery still has two. By the end of Sunday's stage the eight will be reduced by at least a couple more, perhaps reduced all the way to one.

It is hard to be a fan in the face of the continuing scandals but there just is not any doubt that the race produces compelling theater.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Rest day

Very heavy rain moved through at about 3pm creating a rest day.

This also allowed me to catch up on le Tour.

Right now I think my prediction for the finish is the exact same prediction that I made before the race began. The three favorites to me look to be Evans, Leipheimer and Klöden. Evans is currently the best placed on GC off a good performance in the Alps, he is a strong time trial rider and his team is without the distraction of also having to prepare to help McEwen in the sprints. Klöden is a strong time trial rider, looks to be riding through the injury and rides for one of the very best teams, a team which will be looking for redemption for itself and for its injured team leader, Vinokourov. Leipheimer has always said that his best chances will come in the Pyrenees, that those mountains suit his style better than the Alps. He is a strong time trial rider, riding for a team which suddenly looks to have multiple contenders for the lead. Popovych, Gusev and Hincapie are all strong support riders, Popovych's results to this point good enough that he probably is still harboring GC thoughts for himself. Leipheimer is the team leader but even he must be impressed by the emergence of Contador. In an interview with VeloNews, no less a source than CSC's Dave Zabriskie says Contador is the man to beat. Discovery looks very strong.

And what of Rasmussen? He is sure to lose time in the time trial. He must limit his losses and try to gain more time in the Pyrenees. However, he is now a marked man, the other contenders will not let him go in a breakaway with lesser riders as they did the first day in the Alps. If Rasmussen goes now everyone who considers himself a contender must go with him. It will be very difficult for Rasmussen to have another day where he gains big time.

My choice now is my choice before the race began, Cadel Evans. Evans is currently fourth but only the extra seconds in time bonus awarded to Valverde for the finish after Galibier boost Valverde into second overall. Mayo is third but leads Evans by only two seconds. If Rasmussen falters in the race against the clock, Evans seems best positioned to assume the lead. It is now too close to call, but my choice is Evans.

The big days coming up now look to be Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is the a 54 km time trial which includes a category 4 climb. This is obviously a stage critical for all of the current leaders and contenders. Sunday is the first day in the Pyrenees, an extremely difficult day of climbing. The stage begins with a category 2 climb but the real test begins three hours later with a beyond category climb, a descent, and almost immediately the beyond category climb to Plateau de Beille, 16 km at an average gradient of nearly 8 percent, for a mountaintop finish. This is the most difficult summit finish of the Tour and the stage winner could well be the overall winner of the race the following Sunday in Paris.

I love the Tour. Here is the site of the conclusion of the race:As photographed by me from the top of this:That's The Babe and The Guide in the foreground.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Evaporative cooling rules

I got up this morning intending to watch a little Tour before heading off to work. It came on at 6:30 local time to allow extended coverage of the two out of category climbs. Well, I knew that the race actually started at 5:30 local time but I was still hopeful. Versus insisted on doing their stupid Trautwig and Bobke show but Trautwig gave me one final glimmer of hope by saying at the end of that bit that this was a stage that you had to watch from the very beginning as the stage began with this year's first out of category climb.

Well, if you want to know what happened on the first climb you have to live in France because Versus did not put it on TV here. The coverage began with the climb already completed and settled down for a two hour run downhill to the next climb. Grrrr. In fairness, that T-Mobile guy hitting the dog was worth the price of admission.

I haven't seen the whole stage yet, I have been watching but I paused the tape at the foot of the Col de Telegraphe category 1 climb.

It was oppressive today, 85 degrees with a dew point of 67. But it was actually fairly pleasant for most of the ride. Evaporative cooling rules.

This is the Look at the University of Minnesota, College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) Department of Horticultural Science Display and Trail Garden Field Area.I am desparately hoping that the sign is the result of someone with a sense of humor being deliberately and outlandishly grand. There are lots of interesting plants and also surprisingly enough it turns out to be a place where a person could get emergency water as there is a watering hose that appears to be hooked up.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Parkview hill

It rained here overnight and I thought perhaps I would be joining the Tour in taking a rest day. It was sunny most of the day but cloudy by the time I got off work. I wasn't extra confident so I stayed relatively close to home but I got in a nice ride.

This is a place which is not that far away and yet I almost never get there. This is taken right outside the parking lot of the Parkview Center School, only about 3.5 miles from home. Perhaps the picture makes clear why I do not ride there very often. The street is County Road B and that long downhill to Dale Street is known locally as the Parkview hill. The kicker is that from that intersection it is steeply uphill in all four directions.I think Wireless has a story about riding a bike up that hill across the way on a school day on the way to the Gateway and then back up this way on the way back to school.

Australia's day at le Tour yesterday was even worse than I knew at the time I posted. In addition to the injuries to O'Grady and Rogers, Robbie McEwen finished outside the time limit and will not be allowed to continue. A very bad day for Australia.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Another idyllic day at Vadnais

I was up early because of the extended coverage of today's TdF stage which began at 6am local time. I was up a bit before that surfing the net. I knew the cyclingnews site would not have live coverage that early so I was looking at Eurosport UK. When you log onto Eurosport they ask you what your location is. If you answer USA you get the usual array of extremely American sport, mostly baseball and fantasy football. On that page I answer UK and get choices from among the various sports that actually interest me.

I noticed that TdF coverage hadn't begun even at Eurosport yet but that was expectable because the stage did not formally begin until 5:45 local time. Versus made the decision to expand the show and yet instead of expanding the show only another 15 minutes to show the actual complete stage, Versus made the decision to come on the air after the stage started. They then did that stupid Trautwig/Bobke show until 6:15 and only finally then joined the stage in progress having missed the first climb. It is absolutely insulting having those people making decisions for me about what I want to watch. I believe the solution for me is to move to France.

I also noticed that Eurosport had some interesting graphics not available even on cyclingnews. They had a listing of GC contenders and time gaps actual and then a listing of only those people who actually had a chance to win the bicycle race and the time gaps, this time measured from the first among that group, Klöden. Much more actually useful information.

TOPWLH appeared some time later and we watched the live coverage together until the top of the first category 1 climb. It was getting pretty nice out so at that point we turned the race over to the VCR and went for a ride ourselves. It was another idyllic day at Lake Vadnais. This is a slightly different angle than I have offered before and as you can see, it is nice there.It has been 11 days since the last corn picture and the corn is still doing great. As mentioned previously, the first several pictures were taken while I was seated, the most recent from my knees. For this one I had to stand.Babe for scale. Can you find her? It is almost like Waldo. The corn has tasseled out and the ears are forming, the silk has appeared.

Then we came home and watched the rest of the stage on tape. It was a bad day for Australia in general, for sure, but a good enough day for my Aussie, Cadel Evans. The heads of state were too cautious again and I fear that they may have given Rasmussen too much time. I also fear that he may get even more time in some of the mountain stages to come but if the race is still close enough for the two remaining individual time trials to affect the outcome then Evans could still win. I have this vivid mental picture of Rasmussen in polka dots falling off his bike over and over again the last time he was in contention when the final time trial was run. The race is not yet over.

Did anyone else notice that Vino appeared to be bleeding from the knee soaking through his shorts there at the end? The team chose to have Klöden wait for Vino and try to bring him to the line with as little time lost as possible. By his gesture at the line it seemed clear that Vino recognized and appreciated that Klöden had sacrificed. The race is not yet over.

Today was fun.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Thinking about fresh berries

It was cool, only about 75, intermittently but mostly cloudy and windy. I did not come across anything that struck my fancy for a photo. I spent most of the ride thinking about two things: this morning's stage in the TdF and fresh blueberries. I do not have a photo of fresh blueberries but I do have a photo of some pretty nice fresh produce.That's the market at Noirmoutier on the Ile de Noirmoutier, France. That is the island that is reached by a causeway which is available only at low tide. I have a picture of that somewhere too but I didn't spend any time on my ride thinking about that so that picture does not make today's cut.

The stage was interesting, more exciting than Wiggins predicted but in significant ways Wiggins was also correct. The race at the front with the German kid taking the yellow was inspiring and fun but he is no more a threat to hold the jersey by the end of next week than Cancellara was to hold it at the end of today.

If you watched you know the kid, Gerdemann, was seriously knackered at the end of a category 1 climb, a climb on which he lost 2 minutes to all of the heads of state (one of the squares on the Paul and Phil Tour de France Bingo game and something Phil is certain to say soon although I don't believe he has said it yet). The team leaders rode together, participating in the first sorting out of the race. None of them risked anything. They rode together saving strength for a much harder stage coming tomorrow. Tomorrow has not one category 1 to finish the stage, but three. And once Gerdemann puts on the yellow jersey he just isn't going to be allowed to go out on a breakaway and get a five minute headstart over the heads of state up that last climb. Nope, he will have to try to ride with them tomorrow. With a rest day coming up on Monday, good luck to the kid, his time in yellow may be short.

But it was good entertainment, congratulations to Gerdemann. And as an aside, if Gerdemann suffers tomorrow and is unable to produce anything resembling today's effort, that will be a good thing, a very good thing for the sport, as it will indicate that perhaps, just perhaps, he is riding clean.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Owasso tear down

I skipped work today. We have social obligations later which would interfere with my ride. I have plenty of vacation coming so I took a day and got in a ride in the late morning. July mornings, there just are not enough of them in any one person's lifetime to justify spending them all inside the sealed window enclave of the DNR. Today I went for a bicycle ride instead.

We have the tear down phenomenon here too. There used to be a smallish house here on the east shore of Lake Owasso but the new owners wanted something more appropriate to their wealth, I guess.This is also today's wildlife photo as if you look carefully down there by the dock you can see an egret, also known as white heron, also known as big white bird.

I have been watching the live coverage of the Tour on tape every day but today I saw most of it when it actually was live. It was not a very exciting stage. I saw a quote from Wiggins made before the stage. He said that the next few days in the Alps are not going to provide the excitement that many people expect. Wiggins thinks all of the teams are being extremely cautious, waiting for the Pyrenees more than a week away before they make maximum effort. He expects more stages much like the one today and two days ago where the peloton just coasts along in the small ring until 20 kilometers to go and then hammers in, saving energy for later. He certainly was right about today. There was an extreme shortage of risk taking by all of the teams.

I note by the morning paper that the Associated Press does not have an umlaut in their type set either so they have gone with Kloeden. He looked miserable and Vino with all of his gauze and tape looked vaguely like The Mummy. In any case, tomorrow the mountains begin.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Down goes Vino, down goes Vino, down goes Vino

Does anyone think that isn't exciting racing? I found it a bit odd that whereas when Armstrong and Ullrich were racing in the mountains and one of the main candidates crashed, Phil and Paul went on and on about how peloton protocol called for the other contenders to wait. Today, down goes Vino and the peloton gleefully hammers away. But admittedly circumstances were different today.

The explanation I read on cyclingnews.com was that the teams at the front of the peloton were in the hunt for a stage victory so they had to keep driving to catch the breakaway.

Also, Chavanel is a real G.C. contender. They could not afford to leave him out there with that 5 minute advantage. Given 5 minutes at this point in the race Chavanel might well be able to carry the yellow jersey all the way to Paris.

I found myself riding around in the Fairgrounds again today. I had to wait for a cloud to clear the sun but eventually I got a picture of the official Fair mascot, Fairchild. From the spot where I was standing to take this picture I could also see one of those dinosaurs, a Linus, a Lucy and a Snoopy and Woodstock on the doghouse. Oh, and one of those former elm trees carved into a figure. So a real compendium of "art".

Here's Gino in more or less mid-season form.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Changing weather

As I left work the day long weather threat seemed to fulfill itself. Suddenly it was raining, and raining hard. It eased up a bit about the time I got onto the freeway but all around everything was pretty wet. As I neared home the tennis courts at Roseville Area High School were completely puddled up.

I assumed at this point that no ride was possible and detoured from my regular Snelling Avenue exit to Cleveland, intending to head to the bike store on University to try on something that they advertised in the catalog I just received from them.

When I turned onto Cleveland it seemed to be plenty dry enough to ride so I detoured back on Larpenteur and headed home. It was plenty dry and it was absolutely gorgeous out for long enough to get a ride in. It was starting to darken up as I finished but I just glanced out and it seems pretty nice again.

Changing weather.

Before I even got out of the driveway I had today's wildlife sighting. There was a bunny in the front yard. I tried to get a photo but apparently failed.

I gotta go watch le Tour again. Tomorrow is the first stage with significant uphill parts, the first opportunity to see the real strong men of le Tour come to the forefront. I still like Evans, Leipheimer and Klöden. None of them have done anything to indicate that they are anything other than contenders. There are several others as well, obviously. Sastre, Menchov, Vinokourov, Valverde and perhaps even Moreau are all also realistic contenders. The race is about to start to be exciting.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Hooray for Scott

It was extremely windy today. But I invoked the Auckland rule and rode anyway. Besides, I had to test Scott's theory on reinstalling the pedals.

I report mixed results. On the down side, it was just way too windy and I had to invoke some sort of Northwest Passage corollary to the Auckland Rule. Sort of, I don't care what part of New Zealand you claim to be from, when the wind is strong enough to nearly blow you off your bike you have to try to get home before that (getting blown off your bike) actually happens. I did get in 10 miles, however, so I guess it sorta counts as a ride.

On the up side, hooray for Scott. Pedals greased up and reinstalled and the click is gone. So there's another valuable wrenching rule learned, always make sure the connections are tight. And another bicycle rule reinforced, try to have good relations with your local bike shop, they can be very helpful in mechanical matters related to your bicycle.

When I set off I didn't expect to get far so I did not even bring my camera. The photo here is yesterday's other odd tall thing at the Fair. In looking at this picture and the turbine blade from yesterday I am mostly struck by what a beautiful blue the sky was yesterday. A major benefit of riding your bicycle is that you find yourself outdoors during days like yesterday.

This Tour de France thing is going to totally ruin my life for the next three weeks. It is going to completely disrupt my regular routine. I watched again yesterday and I love this thing, I am totally going to watch every minute of it. Yesterday for the time they were on American TV they rode totally in Belgium. Whoa, Belgium. Geez, I love Belgium. Today they entered France, I am going to have to go and watch.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Odd tall things at the Fair

Today's theme is odd tall things at the Fair. I was riding through the Fairgrounds and was struck by how odd looking the thing that the Fair calls the Space Tower looks. For one thing, our preception of what space is and how far away it is has changed enormously since the thing was put up. It is really just an amusement, a ride if you will, but it is still very well attended during the annual event.

So I took a picture but then as I was riding away towards the exit I came upon this thing. What the heck is the deal with this thing?

All I can confirm is that it says Eco Experience on the base around on the wide side. I have no idea what it is but I do know it is not affiliated with that burger stand that it appears to be sprouting out of. It is, however, an odd tall thing at the Fair.

I got my pedal issue squared away. I swapped out the pedals on the Look for the pedals on the Crown Jewel. The swapped in pedals are whisper quiet. So having isolated the cause as the pedals I set out to get the original pedals repaired. I figured new bearings. Well, I discussed it thoroughly with Dan and Scott at the bike shop. Dan had figured out that he could definitely do the work, even knew where to get bearings at a price probably considerably below what Speedplay would charge. But Scott suggested that I put the pedals back on and see if they still clicked. He said that the click could have been a pedal thread issue and that removing the pedals, regreasing and reinstalling might prove to be a solution. He said I should rule that out before spending $75 or so on a pedal overhaul. Excellent problem solver Scott, I shall try his solution.

These are, absolutely, without question, oats.Oddly enough, they are not as brown as the wheat. My recollection of the sequence from the two summers I worked on Gullekson's farm is that barley comes first, then oats, wheat towards the end of summer. Oh, well. But these are oats.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Half-way

The bicycle season is seven months long. There is an occasional ride in November and a few rides in March and even the very rare December or February. But the season really begins in April and ends at the end of October, seven months.

July is the middle month of the seven and the middle of the month, July 15 looms large. Those of us who are number obsessive know that a season mileage goal is best half-way achieved by July 15. Failure to do so leads to unpleasant scrambling as the daylight wanes.

Today I passed the half-way mark in my season mileage goal, a week early.

Today is going to be hot again, although probably not up to yesterday's scorching standards. I felt it was appropriate to get out before the heat again. I was out of the house before 7am again today and home just before 10:05. It slips my mind easily how very pleasant these early morning rides are in July when it is plenty warm enough to ride very early.

I don't ride in Minneapolis very often. I only get to this lake once or twice a year. So here is Lake Nokomis.Anyone who has or is currently living in Richfield or South Minneapolis will surely recognize this as the north side beach taken from the vantage point of the south side beach. It seems to me to be quintessentially Lake Nokomis.

Closed circuit to Ms. Wireless: I rode all the way around the lake, even that marshy bit west of Cedar that usually gets skipped. I turned off Nokomis boulevard at about the furthest western point and found myself to be at 54th and Bloomington and about 12 miles from home. I could get to, oh say, 77th and 12th with about 3.5 more miles. I would have done it this morning but it was only 8:30 and I would have been there before 9 and I knew you were not up. But be forewarned, you are within riding distance.

Riding early I taped today's stage of the Tour. I am going to go and watch it right now. Cancellara was fabulous yesterday but you cannot win the Tour in the Prologue. Closed circuit to Michigan: It might be possible to lose the Tour in the Prologue, particularly if you fall off your bike. Tough break for O'Grady. It doesn't take him out of the hunt for the green jersey or for stage wins but sprinters cannot afford to lose time in sprint stages. Klöden looked good, don't you think?

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Hottest day of the year?

The weather page in the local newspaper says today is going to be the hottest day of the year. Well, it occurred to me that last year we got in a couple of pretty nice rides heading out from Yellow Lake Lodge on the two hottest days of the year. The key is getting an early start.

I was in the garage before 7am and on the road shortly thereafter. This is Bellaire Beach on White Bear Lake, 15 miles from home at 8:15.Across the street is a Lutheran church and then two doors up is Aunt Betty's house. I rode by slowly and took a look. Someone is living there but who that might be I have no clue. Perhaps family, perhaps the house has been sold.

I passed some lakes that I do not get to very often so I took pictures. This is Lake Gervais, pronounced "jarvis" for you outlanders. Visible on the far shoreline is the Little Canada water tower.There were lots of fishing boats on the lake.

This is Keller Lake.It looks pretty and calm but that is a bit of an illusion. There are busy highways on two sides of the lake, Highway 36 on the far end and Highway 61 on the right.

And this is Lake Phalen, the jewel of the east side.Home by shortly after 10 and glad of it as it surely is starting to get hot out there.

I passed several other lakes including Owasso, Vadnais and Como, but only submit pictures of lakes which have not previously been featured.

The Tour has started and as I type Discovery Channel's Vladimir Gusev is the leader. The favorites are still to come.

In response to comments my explanation for my selections is that these are riders who I believe are probably not doping. Both Evans and Leipheimer had results last year which, if they were doping, they were not doing so very successfully. Both were strong in some stages but also had stages when they were clearly not strong enough and were unable to hold the leader's pace. As a result neither finished very high in the general classification.

Klöden finished quite high but for me escapes suspicion for now. He has recently adamantly denied doping. In his self defense he points out that since age eleven he has been ranked at the top of the world rankings for his age group. He wasn't doping when he was eleven. He has now reached maturity and is riding at the very top of the sport. His explanation makes sense to me, he has always been one of the best. We should not suspect doping just because he still is capable of riding at the highest level.

And by the way, I don't like Vinokourov for just exactly the opposite reason. Born in the former Soviet Union, sometimes freakishly strong in the mountains, working with the Italian doping doctor, Vino for me raises too many red flags. If he can win with the certain scrutiny that he will be under in this year's Tour I may reconsider. If he cannot win I will believe that my suspicions were correct.

So, once again, Evans, Leipheimer and Klöden.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Number 100

It was another beautiful warm summer day here so I decided to take a ride on my bicycle.Grass Lake has appeared before. But as it is not accessible on a paved surface it has only appeared when I am riding the Axis. Today I rode across the pedestrain bridge still on the pavement and got this photo from near the end of the asphalt. For comparison see the photo in the March 23 post.

As I passed the spot near Lake Owasso where I saw the fox yesterday I had a different sort of encounter. Coming down the hill on Dale where two youngish teenage boys on BMX bikes. They were I suspect about 14 as they were too big for the bikes but they were still riding bikes, not yet eligible for a license to drive. We exchanged glances but nothing more. That is until about a half block later when I heard from behind me a "I like your helmet". I gave a thumbs up and a thank you. Not a nice bike but still it made me smile.

I don't have enough time on the farm to be positive about grain identifications either but I am reasonably sure that this is wheat. This is a plot growing along Larpenteur quite near to the campus buildings.The Tour de France starts tomorrow. The popular choice to win is Alexandre Vinokourov of the Astana team. I expect Vino to be the effervescent presence in the race that he was when last he raced but I do not expect him to win. My choice is for the maillot jaune to remain on the shoulders of a native English speaker. My prediction is Australia's Cadel Evans of the Lotto team. I think that he will be joined on the podium by Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer and a member of the Astana team who is not Vinokourov, Andreas Klöden.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Home alone

TOPWLH has gone with her brother and her parents on a family vacation. To be fair, I was not excluded, they said I could go. But I work and today and tomorrow I have regularly scheduled shifts. So I am Culkinesque, here on my own.

My ride today was a quest for these:My pedals, Speedplay X-series, have a composite resin pedal body. But the actual contact point of cleat to pedal is these things. The "bowtie" bolts to the resin body, the cleat slides over the wide parts, the connection is complete. The resin part is fairly indestructible but the metal parts wear. The cleat connecting part, initially round, gradually flattens on both sides. And this deal gradually wears away as well. After nearly 9,000 miles the connection is no longer quite snug. The result is that I have developed a metal to metal click. I have already gotten new cleats and those coupled with these new bowties should eliminate the click.

I tried County Cycles but they didn't have this particular part in stock. I tried the other Roseville bike shop and even Erik's and neither of those had the part either. Eventually I ended up at Freewheel, that's their advertising that the part is pictured on. The bike kid went all out and eventually located the part. It doesn't look like installation is going to be a big deal although I did have to acquire my first "torx" tool for the special head on the fasteners.

I passed some other of the University fields and although I have no picture, I can report that the oats are ready for harvest. Getting a good look at what I recognized immediately as oats confirmed for me that the other field that I was a bit uncertain about is, indeed as I suspected, wheat. Oats is the first grain to mature, wheat the last.

And in wildlife news today as I made the turn up onto Dale from the street along the east side of Lake Owasso a red fox loped across the road in front of me.

It was a little too warm and a little too windy but it was an extraordinarily pretty day, blue sky and cumulus clouds. It was nice out there.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Independence Day

The weather deities (mainly rain) provided a couple of rest days. I wanted to ride today, but today is for us, as for many, a pretty busy day. If we were going to get in a ride we would have to start early.

I was out by 7:30am. I was struck again by how unpopulated the city is at 7:30. I crossed Snelling Avenue without a car in sight in either direction, most unusual. I circled back to the house by 8am and TOPWLH joined me and we set out for an Independence Day ride.

The wind was very light but what there was seemed a bit out of the south. With this in mind we headed away from the lake tour towards the river. We rode through the University campus and visited the site of our winter hobby. For the past three seasons we have been season ticket holders for University womens' hockey. The games are played here, at Ridder Arena.Of course, it is normally a bit colder when we visit Ridder. That season will come again soon enough. Just in case anyone is keeping track, my preseason prediction of order of finish in the WCHA is 1. Minnesota 2. Wisconsin 3. Minnesota-Duluth.

We crossed the Stone Arch Bridge and rode out to the end of the road. This is our rest stop shortly after the turnaround. The riverfront is all park land north from Hennepin Avenue all the way to Plymouth for sure, possibly to Broadway, possibly to the end of the road. There is a commercial presence on the river bank immediately after the road ends but I think it may be park all the way until then. This area of the park is opposite North 4th Avenue, quite near to the outlet for Bassett's Creek. As recently as 1985 this was all railroad yard.I had not intended to picture the corn. But in the 4 days since the last picture on June 30 the corn has made amazing progress. For every photo until now my vantage point has been sitting down on the grass. For this photo for the first time I had to rise from that sitting position in order to get a reasonable perspective.This photo was taken from my knees. Babe for scale.

We cleaned up and headed out to Canterbury for the annual free hot dog horse race show with Jim and Herb. Emily won some money, Barbara didn't lose as much as she usually does, I cashed lots of tickets but none for any large payouts and kept my losses well within budget. I think a good time was had by all.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Opera Garnier

A photo taken on my morning walk.As the girl said, out the door, around the corner, and, boom, the Opera. I was standing in the middle of what would be in a couple of hours a very busy street. As I took my morning walk it was quiet and tranquil. And beautiful.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Pilot Knob

First off, and to get this out of the way, here is something red. That would be me.It was a bit too cool this morning so I waited until after lunch to ride. It was mostly pretty nice but those middle of the day rides are very taxing. The sun high in the sky makes demands that it doesn't make after 6pm.

I get across the Mississippi with some regularity but I had not been across the Minnesota River previously this year. I set off with that as a goal.

This picture was taken after crossing the first river but before crossing the second. This is Fort Snelling from the bluff side. It has appeared a couple of times previously from across the river. Fort Snelling features historical reenactment. The flag is a 24 star flag which would have been the number of states (and the number of stars on the flag) from the time they are reenacting. The fort was finished in 1825, Missouri was admitted as the 24th state in 1821, Arkansas was admitted as the 25th state in 1836, so I am thinking they are reenacting 1825.The fort appears in this photo because of the red stripes on the flag.

This is the turn around point, the Pilot Knob scenic overlook on the Minnesota River. That is the airport across the river. The river bottom here is all state park so undeveloped. Probably not visible but still present is the red tail on the Northwest flight taking off in the upper right of the photo.So, enough red already.

The Tour de France begins Saturday with a prologue in London. What should be rising anticipation for cycling's greatest event is instead uncertainty and more bad publicity. Giro winner Danilo Di Luca has been summoned by Italian anti-doping authorities to explain his links to doping activities dating to 2004. Third place finisher Eddy Mazzoleni has also been summoned by the same authorities. Presumed Tour de France favorite Alexandre Vinokourov has admitted to association with the most notorious doping doctor, also in 2004, although he claims he only used the doctor for massage therapy, not for medical purposes. And America's leading sports weekly has published an examination of the recent problems. The story includes and shines new light on doping allegations concerning Lance Armstrong that the magazine says have "removed the last vestiges of the sport's credibility."

The critical evidence is sworn testimony provided by Betsy Andreu, wife of former rider and current TV commentator, Frankie Andreu. Frankie has confirmed his wife's account.

The magazine reports her testimony as follows:

"On Oct. 25, 1996, doctors opened Armstrong's skull to cut two cancerous lesions off his brain. Two days later the 25-year-old cyclist was in a conference room at the Indiana University Hospital. His Motorola teammate Frankie Andreu and Andreu's fiancée, Betsy Kramar, were among some half dozen of the Texan's friends in the room. When two doctors entered, Betsy's inclination was to give Armstrong his privacy, but, she testified at the SCA hearing, he bade her to stay.

One of the doctors, Betsy recalled in her testimony, asked Armstrong, "Have you ever used any performance-enhancing drugs?" Recalling the scene for SI, Betsy says that Armstrong was seated, gazing downward and holding his IV stand with his left hand, as he ticked off five drugs: EPO, growth hormone, cortisone, steroids, testosterone. Frankie Andreu, who married Betsy in December 1996, backed up her testimony."

The magazine asks, "Are they all dirty? Does it matter? Should we care?" It is starting to be hard to be a fan of the race.